Community Service Hours
by sydyssey
Summary: High School AU. Dan has to fill a certain amount of community service hours for his school, and decides to volunteer at a camp that's supported by the company his mother works for. As it turns out, there are other teens from different schools who have chosen to do the same. Phan.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I was inspired to use the idea of volunteering at a camp by my good friend hitachiinsin (tumblr). I based the camp, campers, duties, and activities off of what she experiences when she volunteers (thank you for helping me out on this!). Also, hope you don't mind, but I masked the names of the actual camp and company by using some made-up ones. Hope they aren't too terrible!**

 **UPDATED A/N: Okayokayokay so I told people that I was rewriting this chapter but realised that I don't really have the time to do that, so Thurston let me keep her part in. She's not gonna do anymore writing for this story, though, because she apparently has stuff to do? Like? Who actually does things? Anyways ye. All I really did was change some names lmao**

S: On average, high school students need 15 hours of community service to graduate. Some students find this time hard to come across, but for others, it's easier. Luckily enough, high-school-junior Dan Howell has a mother who works for a certain company. That "certain company", Whitewater Services, provides a lot of experiences that may include volunteers.

Today was the day that a week-long service would begin, and both Dan and his mother decided it would be a good idea to utilize it. Camp Ophiuchus, a camp for people with disabilities, just so happens to be supported by the company Mrs. Howell works for. Every August, one week is reserved for activities run by WWS staff, for the people they support.

"Well," Mrs. Howell began as she turned onto a dirt parking lot, "here we are!"

The first thing Dan saw when he stepped out of the vehicle was a decent sized, one story building with a walkway next to it, where a big 16-wheeler was parked. He remembered having to pack that thing nearly to the brim with camping supplies earlier: tables, canopies, food, water, kitchenware, items for activities, et cetera. There weren't many people there to help, but the job was eventually done in time, and here it is.

"Let's go help unpack, Dan," Dan's mum said. "We're gonna need some young muscles to help us out!"

Dan wasn't necessarily classified as strong. His mother's just saying that.

He went to the back of the Hertz truck and saw people already unloading it. Ahem, a lot of people who are much _bigger_ and _stronger_ than him.

' _I'll just take in some cups or something,'_ Dan thought.

 _After unloading…_

"Now what?" Dan asked his mother.

"You're gonna be helping me in the kitchen!" Dan's mother replied. "You're gonna deal with cooking, preparing meals, doing dishes, serving, and cleaning."

Dan sighed. "How many other people are gonna do this?"

"Usually, teenagers have these duties. I'm not sure how many are supposed to show up, but I know that Katherine has a son around your age who'll be here! You remember Katherine, right? My co-worker?"

"Yeah, I remember her," Dan replied. "Is she here yet?"

"No, she's still on her way," Mrs. Howell said. "I think you should try being friends with her son! I know you aren't the greatest at meeting new people, but she's talked about him a lot, and he seems real kind! You even have a lot of similar interests!"

"Hey, mum, you trying to help me make or friend or set me up with a date?" Dan joked.

Donna walked over to her son, and set her hands on his shoulders. "Dan, just give it a shot. Having a friend here makes things easier," she sighed with a smile. "You can go swimming on break, or you can hang out in this building, go on the swing-set… you'll feel better."

Dan looked down and back up after a second. Looking into his mother's dark chocolate eyes, he said promisingly, "I'll try."

Mrs. Howell started clapping out of happiness. "Yay, Daniel!" she cheered while hugging her son.

While this was happening, they heard the door behind them open. "Oh!" a familiar voice began. "Sorry for interrupting!"

Mrs. Howell let go of Dan. "Katherine! You're here!" she welcomed, walking towards the other woman.

Dan turned around, and behind Katherine was… yep, another boy. He had pale skin, almost translucent, with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes. Dan would have mentally pointed out more things about the guy, but was interrupted by Katherine walking in his view to say hello. After that, she turned around to face her son.

T: "Now Philly, you haven't met Donna's son yet, have you?" Katherine asked.

Phil blushed a little out of embarrassment. "Please don't call me that," he said in a deep, slightly-Northern-accented voice.

His mother laughed a little. "Oh, Phil," she said. "This is Daniel!" Katherine gestured towards him. Dan took this as a cue to wave awkwardly. But Phil was eager to meet him. He walked right up to Dan and held out his hand.

"Hello, Daniel! I'm Phil," he said with a warm, welcoming smile.

The thought of meeting a new person made Dan's hands a little clammy out of pure anxiety. He subtly brushed his hand against his pant-leg before hesitantly grasping Phil's hand, and shook it. "Y-you can just… call me Dan…" he mumbled slowly.

"Oh, alright! Sorry, Dan," Phil replied, somehow able to pick up what Dan said.

"It's okay," Dan said, just as slow as before.

"Alright boys," Donna began, "you don't have to do anything right now, so you can go ahead and sit down or something."

Phil walked over to one couch, out of many, with Dan following behind. They sat on either end of the couch, Phil still eager to get to know Dan.

"So, Dan, how old are you?" Phil asked without much hesitation.

"Sixteen…" Dan answered.

Phil nodded. "I'm seventeen, turning eighteen in January." Things went silent between the two boys after, and Phil wouldn't have that. "Do you listen to music?"

"Yeah…"

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Phil asked.

"Um… Fall Out Boy, Muse–"

"I love Muse!" Phil interrupted. "They're probably my number-one-super-ultra-MEGA favorite band!"

Dan smiled at that. ' _Alright, one similar interest so far. This isn't too bad,'_ he thought.

Phil kept asking questions regarding things such as video games, shows, movies, and general hobbies, to find that they both like relatively similar things. Dan thought it was funny how much a seventeen year old guy can love Buffy, but he didn't mind. In fact, he found it kind of endearing. The moment they started having a conversation on Blue Exorcist, Donna called from the kitchen, "Alright boys, time's up! We're making lunch now!"


	2. Chapter 2

**I posted chapter one to this story and almost immediately got a review, which is pretty rad! Here's chapter two!**

 _Phil kept asking questions regarding things such as video games, shows, movies, and general hobbies, to find that they both like relatively similar things. Dan thought it was funny how much a seventeen year old guy can love Buffy, but he didn't mind. In fact, he found it kind of endearing. The moment they started having a conversation on Blue Exorcist, Donna called from the kitchen, "Alright boys, time's up! We're making lunch now!"_

"For lunch, we're just gonna make some sandwiches for the main part with a side salad and crisps with dip," Dan's mother said once the indoor workers joined her in the kitchen. She turned to face her son. "I assume I can trust you and Phil with making a big salad, hm? Just with the standard ingredients."

Dan nodded his head, and Phil replied, "Yes, ma'am," before going to the fridge where the vegetables were kept. "Dan, can you grab some cutting boards and knives?" he asked.

Once the boys had gathered all the ingredients and tools they needed, they set to work.

"So," Phil began, "I feel as if we're gonna get to know each other quite a bit since we're stuck here for a week."

"I suppose that's true," Dan replied with a grin.

Phil smirked. "Well, I'm certainly looking forward to it. You already seem like a guy I can get used to."

"What, a guy who doesn't make you want to rip your head off?"

While they were chuckling at that, Dan realised he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing, as he ended up missing the green pepper and cutting his hand. "GAH! Shit...!" he mumbled, looking down as blood trickled out of his palm.

Phil looked over when he heard Dan whimper. "Everything alr- oh, Dan!" Phil saw Dan's bleeding hand and went over to him. "We should get that cleaned out," he said, taking Dan's hand and leading him to the bathroom.

Dan didn't want to admit to the fact that this guy, who he'd barely known for even a day, had grabbed his hand… and he _blushed_. He's never been a fan of having a love life like out of one in a fanfiction, but if that's what ends up happening now, he wouldn't be entirely opposed.

 _Oh God, what am I thinking?_ Dan scolded himself internally. _Nothing's gonna happen, he's just helping me ou- oh my, he's holding my hand again. How red is my face!? It feels red. Oh God. Oh God. OhGodohGodohGodohGodohGod._

"Dan, you alright? Your face is all red…" Phil observed, placing the back of his hand to Dan's cheeks, making Dan somehow blush more. "Don't be that guy who gets sick in the middle of summer! That's my thing!" the older boy said.

Phil grabbed a cloth from a nearby cabinet, wet it down, and brought it back over. He held up Dan's hand and placed it on the cut, soothing it. "Just hold it there, yeah?" he said, taking his hands away so Dan could hold it in place. Dan looked down at the cloth while his mind started to race again. _No, this is not a crush. I've literally not even known him for a full twenty-four hours. I have to stop being ridiculous. Hell, I probably won't see him again until next year!_

"Here, I have some dressing," Phil said, walking back over to Dan and wrapping his hand with the bandage.

… _Damn you, world…_ Dan thought.

"Ready to go back?" Phil asked, his voice bringing Dan away from his thoughts.

Dan jumped a little. "Oh, uh, sure…" he stuttered.

 _Not a crush._

 _Well, maybe._

 _No._

 _Hmm…_

 _NO._

 **Short chapter, but I had to do something! No, this is not a "throwaway" situation, I just have to plan out the next stream of events more thoroughly. Also, I'd like to apologise to the person whom I told that this chapter would be out by October… I was clearly wrong there. Hope you can forgive me.**

 **Anyways, see you guys next chapter!**


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